The Commander-in-Chief is a honed, of the public for generations to come.” expanded version of Terry’s article “The Historians, scholars, and other readers President as Commander in Chief,” can only hope for someone as astute and which was published in the Ave Maria scholarly to carry on that legacy. JFQ Law Review (2009). There is generous citing of independent collateral sources as well as of Terry’s 30 years of earlier Alice A. Booher, JD, a former Foreign Service Reserve Officer and Counsel to the Department scholarly works, making broadened refer- of Veterans Affairs, Board of Veterans Appeals ences easily accessible. The index and (1969–2011), is well published in national particularly the extensive bibliography media on numerous subjects. She is editor of and contributing author to Glimpses of the and sources sections are immensely New Veteran: Changed Constituencies, Different productive. Disabilities, Evolving Resolutions (Carolina Terry’s fundamental initial focus is Academic Press, 2015). the constitutional source of Presidential authority found in Article II with incre- mental expansion and limitations thereof guided by the Presidents themselves and the specific exigencies in which they discovered themselves, within and some- times without the added dictates and directives of Congress and the courts. With text addressing both authority and The Commander-in-Chief execution, the fully comprehensive yet By James P. Terry concise discussion of the warfighting Carolina Academic Press, 2015 Presidents in the aggregate is contained 204 pp. $40 in the first five chapters, followed by foci ISBN: 978-1611636710 on Presidential powers used in response Reviewed by Alice A. Booher to terrorism, humanitarian crises, United Nations peacekeeping, and in defense of U.S. nationals abroad in chapters 6 ames P. Terry long wore the through 9. mantle of being one of the most Terry next gives consideration to J prolific writers in the areas of Presidential powers in “protecting critical security and international law. In 2013 infrastructure” in circumstances such as and 2014, his books The War on Terror electrical blackouts, protection of water and Russia and the Relationship Between supply, and actions post-9/11, post– Law and Power were recognized as pro- Hurricane Katrina, and so forth, including viding articulate, extraordinary analyses establishment of the Department of The Invisible Wounds of of both subjects. The Commander-in- Homeland Security and the strengthened War: Coming Home from Chief is certainly equal to these two review on cyber security. A final discussion Iraq and works and, in some ways, is better than relates to arms control. Each President By Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard both. Terry’s lifelong body of work and impacting elements and actions are Prometheus Books, 2012 was a product reflective of extraordi- addressed with remarkable objectivity 254 pp. $18 nary academic credentials, hands-on in a context virtually absent any political ISBN: 978-1616145538 service in the Marine Corps, both on “spin” other than learned analyses. Reviewed by David F. Eisler the ground and as Legal Counsel to A eulogy written by national security the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of expert Professor Robert Turner noted Staff, and senior leadership roles at the that James Terry “improved the lives of ach of us who has come home Departments of State and Veterans those around him through his willingness from war has experienced the Affairs. At the time of his death on to share his knowledge and his genuine E return in our own way. Some were December 12, 2014, Terry, a Senior compassion for everyone.” That assess- embraced by a loving family; others Fellow in the Center for National Secu- ment would appear to be fulfilled in this were alone. Some were respected by rity Law at the University of Virginia, worthwhile and final volume, which, as friends, while others were feared by had signed off on this book, which was Turner states, is “to be read by students, neighbors. Many adjusted quickly to published posthumously. policymakers and interested members the comparative peace of their previous

102 Book Reviews JFQ 79, 4th Quarter 2015 lives, while some never adjusted at all, military. Several mothers even try to talk tormented by the demons of combat their children out of it. New from and post-traumatic stress disorder The book’s biggest issue is its propa- (PTSD). It is on this latter group of sol- gation of numerous negative stereotypes NDU Press diers that Marguerite Bouvard focuses about veterans. Bouvard contends that for the Center for the Study of her attention in The Invisible Wounds “returning soldiers harbor a grief that is Chinese Military Affairs of War through individual stories that, not widely understood” and that “they Strategic Forum 289 though incredibly moving, perpetuate can’t come home [because] . . . these An Empirical Analysis of Claimant many of the sensationalized stereo- memories will never go away. When sol- Tactics in the South China Sea types that have plagued the veteran diers drive down a highway or a road in by Christopher D. Yung and community. Illinois, Nevada, New York, Colorado, or Patrick McNulty In the last few years, there have been any other place, they look at rooftops and China, a number of books intended to open overpasses to make certain there are no Taiwan, a window into the experience of the enemies waiting with rifles.” But her con- Vietnam, the modern soldier and combat veteran, clusions and narrative are driven by a few Philippines, including David Finkel’s Thank You for interviews with select individual veterans Malaysia, and Your Service (Sarah Crichton Books, and family members and then told as if Brunei have 2013), Yochi Dreazen’s The Invisible representative of the entire population— used a wide Front (Crown, 2014), and Howard everyone in this book suffers from PTSD. variety of tac- Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekeran’s In a few cases, Bouvard evokes tics to protect For Love of Country (Knopf, 2014). dangerous sensationalism. “Veterans and advance their maritime territo- Bouvard’s book, published in 2012, return in combat mode,” she writes, rial claims in the South China Sea. predates all of these and even antici- “which gives them the ability to respond China is the most active user of the pated many of the issues that have made instantly with deadly force. They are nine categories of tactics identified recent headlines, including military in perpetual mobilization for danger, in this paper, with the exception of sexual assault, controversy within the endurance, and hyper-arousal.” And in legal actions, and accounts for more Department of Veterans Affairs (includ- a later paragraph, she claims, “because than half of all military and paramili- ing a story of one veteran who received soldiers have to distance themselves from tary actions since 1995. an appointment for trauma counseling emotions suffered during a horrific war, The unclassified database used 3 weeks after he committed suicide), as their feelings often flare up at unexpected in this analysis undercounts military well as the philosophical issues associated times after returning to civilian life.” If and paramilitary actions, but cap- with maintaining an all-volunteer force. the book is meant as a way to engage tures enough activity to provide a In that regard, it is worth reading to civilians in understanding the emotions representative sample. A classified see how these themes have evolved over of war veterans, how will they come away version that captures more activ- time and to get a personal sense of how thinking about them? ity would improve the potential they affected real people. Even with these problems, much of to develop the database into an Much of the book, though, is writ- the book is poignant and excellent, such Indications and Warning tool to ten in an anecdotal tone of hearsay, with as her description of soldiers walking long assist in monitoring and managing many needless citations given for banal distances and waiting in lines just to get tensions in the South China Sea. details, while wild claims are neither a few minutes on the phone to call their put into context nor supported with wives or families. The author is at her best evidence. Because these stories are strung when writing about the emotions and together without pausing to consider the reactions of an individual person rather context of the situation, the book misses than making generalizations about all the chance to connect with the larger veterans. Her expert description of how conversation about military veterans. families grieve and mourn their loved In many cases, the author is unable to ones, whether lost in combat or to sui- distance herself from her subject, veering cide, is some of the book’s best material. too often into the political and seemingly It is easy to let those we have lost as a selecting her samples to confirm her country become a set of faceless numbers, convictions. In the chapter on mothers, but Bouvard refuses to allow that. She a subject about which the author has also captures the complex emotions of written several books, it is somewhat coming home and readjusting to civilian Visit the NDU Press Web site for surprising that every single mother was life, including the feelings of dissociation more information on publications at ndupress.ndu.edu upset when her child decided to join the

JFQ 79, 4th Quarter 2015 Book Reviews 103 from others so familiar to those of us who Sarah Chayes, a historian and award- have gone through it ourselves. winning PBS correspondent who later The book may be designed to spur became a high-level advisor to former readers to action, to force them to spring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from their comfortable lives outside these Admiral , lived in the wars and immediately find the closest midst of Afghan corruption beginning veteran and shower him or her with care in 2002. Originally sent to Kandahar on and affection. If you take the message too a reporting assignment following the literally, though, you might come away U.S. overthrow of the , Chayes with the impression that everyone who decided to stay in Kandahar as part of a has served in the military is suffering and nonprofit venture. She provides her first- that the only way to ease their pain is to hand knowledge of the payoffs, bribes, pity them. and embezzlement seemingly entrenched Bouvard should be commended for in southern Afghanistan during that time her attempt to reach out, even if too period. Corruption has never gotten bet- much of her book is based on clichés and ter, but Chayes’s perspective has changed. the unfortunately common philosophy of Later brought into the highest policy thinking that veterans have a monopoly circles of the U.S. military, she advised on suffering that civilians cannot under- multiple International Security Assistance stand. She writes, “Living in the present, Force commanders in the late 2000s in- civilians have the luxury of managing cluding Admiral Mullen. their memories. We all have both good Corruption has long been on the and difficult memories, but we are able Thieves of State: Why mind of national advisors. In an early to turn them off if we wish.” But a per- Corruption Threatens chapter, Chayes surveys so-called mirror son who has had a friend killed in a car Global Security literature, tracks from the Middle Ages crash or lost a relative to an unexpected that provided advice to future rulers. By Sarah Chayes disease—or who experiences any of the Though Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince W.W. Norton, 2015 feelings of grief central to the human may be the most famous example, such 262 pp. $26.95 existence—can sympathize, if not em- advice transcends cultures and empires. ISBN 978-0393239461 pathize. We should not try to single out She persuasively shows that writers across Reviewed by William H. Waggy II veterans as the owners of traumatic loss, the centuries warned rulers of the dangers but rather use that loss as a starting point of corruption, some actually pointing to to form bonds with others who have corruption as a source of weakness and pring in Afghanistan brings the felt the same. Each side in the civilian- instability in their kingdoms. annual renewal from winter’s military conversation would benefit from Chayes expands on the idea that snowmelt, as rivers threaten their sharing their stories with each other, as S corruption causes instability and applies banks and bring much-needed water to well as listening to the stories of their it to Afghanistan. In this respect, she the country’s valleys. This year, spring counterparts. JFQ admirably contributes important ideas to brought the onslaught of another sea- conversations about Afghanistan security sonal occurrence: the annual evidence and stability. Chayes convincingly ex- of rampant corruption in Afghanistan. David F. Eisler is the Program Manager for Words plains how unchecked corruption causes After War and a Research Associate at the March brought a story from Stars and instability, national frustration, and Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Stripes that highlighted the Kabul Virginia. ultimately violence. Corruption should market for gaudy mansions constructed not be viewed as merely a by-product over the last decade with no small of weak national governments or an assistance from foreign aid. April was inherent problem of insecurity. Rather, no different, as a $100 million fuel con- corruption erodes any support for gov- tract scandal garnered attention in the ernmental institutions, breeds cynicism Afghan press. Later that same month, throughout the population, and pushes the Special Inspector General for people toward violent and puritanical Afghanistan Reconstruction released solutions. a report on the oversight of personnel As governments fail to contain preda- and payroll data that showed deficient tory impulses, the population looks for control mechanisms allowing personnel solutions that promise fairness. Looking to be paid regardless of attendance. across several countries, Chayes shows

104 Book Reviews JFQ 79, 4th Quarter 2015